Get Up To Speed With 'The Flash' Season 3: News, Rumors, Trailers & All You Need To Know

The Flash Season 3 started with a bang, and now we're deep into the consequences of this post-Flashpoint timeline. What is Doctor Alchemy planning, and will Caitlyn become the villain Killer Frost? It's difficult to keep up with all the news, rumors, and spoilers, so we've compiled a handy guide to prepare you for CW's The Flash Season 3.

The Flash Season 3 News, Rumors & Spoilers

Updated 12/06/16:

After he dropped in to give Barry some fatherly advice in the Season 3 premiere, Jay Garrick raced back to Earth-3 and hasn't been seen since. However, Jay will help Barry out with Savitar in Season 3 Episode 9, and this won't just be a one episode cameo.

In a new interview with CBR, John Wesley-Shipp revealed that he will be returning as Jay after The Flash Season 3 mid-season hiatus — and he'll have a much larger role in the show.

"I’m going to figure in more prominently in the second half of the season than the first. [...] So we get to see Jay dealing with this young speedster, we get to see his reaction to Savitar, and there really are some curious things that Jay says that make me wonder, ‘Okay, what’s coming?’"

It looks like he'll be going up against a version of Mark Hamill's Trickster in Episode 9, as we saw in these stills from "The Present".

Mark Hamill butts heads with John Wesley-Shipp. [CW]

Fans have also speculated that Hamill may be playing the Joker, not Earth-3's Trickster, thanks to his distinctive purple hair and pale skin.

Just who is Mark Hamill playing in 'The Flash' S03E09? [CW]

Either way, it'll be fantastic to see Hamill back on the set of The Flash, and we can't wait to find out how this episode leads Jay Garrick to have a bigger role in the latter half of Season 3.

It also seems as though Savitar and Grodd will come to blows in the same episode, more leaked set photos revealed. There's also a mysterious new female villain, and Cisco has finally suited up as Vibe.

After Savitar was first revealed, claiming to be the "god of speed", we're left wondering if he is in fact the speedster god from DC Comics, making him the most formidable foe Barry has ever faced. Of course, he might just be a human with some serious delusions of grandeur.

Executive producer Greg Berlanti revealed to Entertainment Weekly that we will never return to the original timeline.

Barry with his parents in Flashpoint. [The CW]

After Barry reset the timeline — twice — Season 3 is dealing with the consequences of time travel, and the post-Flashpoint timeline has many key differences to the timeline from Season 1. Although some fans want to see the old timeline restored, Berlanti has shot down these hopes:

“I’m not sure that we can [return to the original timeline], given what we’ve established. If we’re not challenging ourselves and creating new territory and new obstacles for the characters, I think it’s less rewarding to watch and probably less rewarding to play. We like to grow ourselves and grow our characters.”

Of course, it's worth noting that the timeline explored in Season 1 wasn't even the original timeline — the Reverse Flash changed this when he first went back in time to kill Barry's mother. Thawne then had to disguise himself as Harrison Wells in order to correct the new timeline's course so that the particle accelerator would explode, and Barry would become the Flash.

Barry becomes the Flash in Season 1. [The CW]

Berlanti did not confirm whether we'd see further alterations to the timeline in Season 3, or later on in the show.

Check back here for more updates!

The Flash Season 3 Air Date

The Flash's CW premiere date was October 4th 2016, at 8pm EST. The episodes will continue to air on Tuesdays at 8/7c.

The Flash Season 3 Trailers, Previews & Promos

Jay Garrick returns to The Flash in this promo for Season 3 Episode 9.

But can he help Barry defeat Savitar?

The Flash Season 3 & The Flashpoint Comic Book

When it was confirmed that Season 3 would indeed adapt the comic arc Flashpoint, we thought we knew what to expect.

In the comic, Barry Allen wakes up to discover that he has no powers, and the world is much different from what he knew. His mother is still alive, Thomas Wayne (not Bruce) is Batman, the Amazons and Atlanteans are at war — and Leonard Snart is the hero of Central City, known as Citizen Cold.

The Flashpoint-set 'Citizen Cold' mini-series. [DC]

When the finale of The Flash Season 2 reset the timeline, fans assumed that Season 3 would incorporate many aspects of the Flashpoint comic arc. However, now we know this isn't the case.

The main villains for Season 3 are Doctor Alchemy and Savitar, as Leonard Snart is far too busy joining the Legion of Doom in Legends of Tomorrow Season 2. The alternate timeline known as Flashpoint did feature differences like Cisco Ramon being the richest man on Earth, but it had few similarities to the comic book.

The Flash Season 3 Cast & Characters

— Grant Gustin / The Flash: Previously appearing on Glee, Gustin plays Barry Allen, a perpetually late and good natured CSI whose life is changed when he is struck by lightening during a particle accelerator explosion. Gaining superspeed, Barry becomes the Flash!

Grant Gustin as the Flash. [The CW]

— Candice Patton / Iris West: Previously appearing on The Game, Patton plays Iris, who is Barry's longterm love interest from the comic books. On The Flash TV series, Iris slowly discovers his secret identity of the Flash, while she investigates the strange goings-on in Central City as a journalist at the Central City Picture News.

— Carlos Valdes / Cisco Ramon: A nerdy and excitable scientist, Cisco helps Barry harness his abilities as the Flash, creating Barry's supersuit. Later on, it is revealed that Cisco also became a metahuman during the explosion, and is developing powers as the superhero Vibe. Valdes is also a professional singer, and we're looking forward to seeing him demonstrate his musical talent in the upcoming Supergirl / The Flash musical episode.

— Danielle Panabaker / Caitlin Snow: A medical doctor who works at S.T.A.R. Labs, Caitlin saved Barry's life after the explosion and works to save Central City from metahuman threats. Panabaker first stretched her superhero wings in the teen movie Sky High, where she played a character with plant-manipulating powers.

— Tom Cavanagh / Harrison Wells: In Season 1, Cavanagh played Eobard Thawne, who was disguised as the deceased Harrison Wells. In Season 2 Cavanagh returned as the real Harrison Wells from Earth-2, this time more of an antihero than a villain.

— Jesse L. Martin / Joe West: Surrogate father to Barry and actual father to Iris, Joe works as a police detective, teaming up with the Flash to protect Central City from metahuman threats.

— Keiynan Lonsdale / Wally West: Iris' brother joined the show in Season 2, and Wally's adrenaline-seeking ways soon caused trouble for Barry and Iris. In Season 3, Wally will fulfill his role from the comics and become Kid Flash.

— John Wesley Shipp / Henry Allen: Barry's father was incarcerated for much of Season 1 and 2, and was killed in the Season 2 finale. However, Henry will return in as a major The Flash Season 3 character, now that Barry has reset the timeline. Shipp also played the real Jay Garrick at the end of Season 2, in a nod to his time portraying the Flash in the 1992 TV show.

John Wesley Shipp as Jay Garrick. [The CW]

— Tom Felton / Julian Dorn: Joining the cast for Season 3 is Felton, portraying a mysterious new character who will be a rival to Barry.

Doctor Alchemy is a rather obscure villain from The Flash comics, giving the writers plenty of freedom to reinvent the character. In the comics, Dr Alchemy suffers from multiple personality disorder, meaning that we may not discover his true identity until later on in Season 3.

Another obscure villain, Savitar is a speedster from the 1990s Flash comics. The villain originated in Russia and thanks to his research into the Speed Force, Savitar has the ability to give other people speedster powers.

The Flash Season 3 Recap & Review

The Flash Season 3 Spinoff

The Flash is technically a spinoff show from Arrow, and halfway through The Flash Season 2, The CW premiered another spinoff show — Legends of Tomorrow.

The Flash with the Legends of Tomorrow. [The CW]

Previously airing on CBS, Supergirl has also joined this narrative after its move to The CW. These four shows are part of an interconnected story, and there will be a massive crossover across all shows in December.

The upcoming seasons of all the DC TV shows will feature many more crossovers to bring this multiverse closer together.

The Flash Season 3 Theories

In the break between seasons, fans came up with tons of The Flash Season 3 theories. In recent weeks, many of these have been debunked, while others have been confirmed — such as Zoom turning into the Black Flash.